Policies & Guidelines

SOS Services

Spam Information

Incident Reporting

Security Guides

Setting Passwords

SOS Staff

FAQ

ITS sponsored a security awareness campaign

If you give your e-mail address to anyone on the Internet, you will increase the likelihood of receiving spam e-mail in the future. One of the easiest ways to minimize the amount of spam is to use a throwaway or disposable e-mail address. The basic idea is this: obtain and use an e-mail address other than your Penn State e-mail address or your main commercial ISP address for doing certain on-line business.

Uses for a disposable e-mail address can include those times when an e-mail address is required when you:

• Wish to receive confirmation that an order you have placed has been shipped

• Expect an estimate for an order of goods or services by e-mail

• Have entered a contest in which winners are to be notified by e-mail

• Have participated in a survey or evaluation in exchange for rewards or discounts, to be delivered by e-mail

• Wish to receive information on any product or service from a business, but only for a short period of time

• Post messages to newsgroups

 

If you participate in on-line activity that fits the above categories, you may find that weeks and months later you receive unsolicited commercial email from sources you have never contacted in the past.  This is possibly because the companies involved have “shared” your email address with other Internet-based businesses, and this sharing can continue with other companies indefinitely.  Another way your e-mail address can be distributed is when less secure companies get “hacked”, and have their customer information stolen.  Also when going out of business, firms sell their assets, and e-mail addresses may be considered to be assets.   Rather than use your Penn State e-mail address for such transactions, use a disposable e-mail address, which you can either access separately, or have forwarded to your main email address.  When spam to that disposable address increases to an undesirable level, you can terminate that disposable address and create a new one.

Ways of creating a disposable e-mail address may include:

• Create an "Alternate E-mail ID" with your Penn State access account, at https://www.work.psu.edu/ by clicking on "Edit your online directory information" under the heading Directory Services. For further instructions and restrictions, once you are in the Directory information change page, click on the link that reads "Alternate E-mail ID".

• Obtain one of the popular free e-mail accounts.

• Some commercial ISPs have one main identity, but allow the customer to create several others. 

• Several companies offer e-mail addresses that you can use specifically as disposable addresses.  Most disposable e-mail addresses are purchased, but some services offer them for free.  Use a search engine to find out more about their cost and features; search on the phrase "disposable addresses".

Recommendation for Web Authors:

• When authoring a web page consider using an alternate e-mail address when possible.  E-mail addresses can be harvested from web pages by automated programs called "spiders."

Return to relevant pages:

• Return to Main Spam Page

• Report Spam

• Retrieving full header information

For assistance, contact Security Operations and Services.
Provide site feedback to the Security Webmaster.

Last revised: 06/12/2006